More than 600 American companies operate in South Africa, and that figure is exactly why Roelf Meyer, the country’s ambassador to the United States, calls repairing strained relations with Washington an economic imperative. The stakes, he argues, run straight to investment and job creation.
Speaking at the Cape Town Press Club on Monday, shortly after returning from Washington, Meyer framed economic cooperation as one of the most important pillars of the bilateral relationship, with direct consequences for South Africa’s growth, investment prospects and employment. “Our job is to create jobs in South Africa. That is ultimately what it is about,” he said. Improvement, he added, was needed on both fronts: “If we have to improve the relationships at the trade level, it’s necessary, but also at the political level. We can’t go on like this.”
The case for urgency rests on the sheer weight of the American market. “Why is it important that we have good relations with the United States? It’s because it’s the biggest economy on earth, as a starting point.”
The commercial backdrop has soured in recent months. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced new visa restrictions targeting foreign nationals accused of involvement in race-based discrimination and uncompensated land seizures in South Africa. President Donald Trump has singled out the country on several issues since returning to the White House, notably making debunked claims of white Afrikaners being systematically “killed and slaughtered” there.
Meyer acknowledged the strain without assigning blame. “There is at the moment, unfortunately, a tension. The relationship is strained, everybody knows it, and we have to work and find ways to get out of this.” Blame, he said, would not resolve the challenges facing the two countries. “I’m not going to put blame anywhere; it’s not necessary. I have a job to do, and that is to make sure that we restore the relationship in the best possible way and as quickly as we can.”
Positioning himself as a conduit between the two capitals, he said he was prepared to play whatever role was required. “Whether there’s persuasion necessary on the US side or on the South African side, I will be the messenger to try and make it happen.”
The veteran politician, a former chief negotiator in South Africa’s democratic transition, said his long association with the US, built over dozens of visits across more than four decades, had reinforced the importance of maintaining strong ties.
Meanwhile, at the same event, Meyer drew on the subject of his memoir, reflecting on lessons from the country’s transition from apartheid to democracy that he believes remain relevant. One success, he said, was keeping the middle ground together. A key turning point in the negotiations came when leaders stopped focusing on preserving the past and began concentrating on the future: “What is it that we want from the future instead of what is it that we want to protect from the past?”
He also underscored the centrality of South Africa’s constitutional democracy, describing the constitution as the country’s ultimate foundation. “The president is not the most important factor in this country. The Executive isn’t, Parliament isn’t; it’s the constitution. And there’s only one adjudicator, and that is the Constitutional Court.” The supremacy of the constitution, he said, remains one of the most significant achievements of the democratic transition and a cornerstone of the country’s political system.
Whether the messenger role Meyer has carved out can translate into restored trade and investment flows between the two economies is now the question hanging over his tenure in Washington.